What is the best 1 TB and 2 TB drive to buy for the Tivo Premiere if price was not a factor. I figure I'm already saving so much money by doing the internal hard drive upgrade myself. I don't mind spending a few extra bucks on buying the most compatible 1 TB or 2 TB drive for the Premiere. I really don't want a headache with compatibility issues. Please give me the model # so I can buy it soon.

Welcome to the forum. You have several options. If it were me I would opt for one of these at this time:

I tried to copy my original 320 drive to a new WD AV-GP 2TB drive. I connected both drives, went through the guided setup, it found the Tivo drive, It found the 2tb destination drive, I selected Copy, it started to copy then after a while my computer screen went black & there was no hard drive activity. waited about an hour than I hit the escape button & it seemed to have stopped at around 31GB of copying - no errors. I restarted the computer & tried again. Same thing happened except it got to about 48gb of copying - no errors I waited 2 hours this time. Tried a 3rd time it got to 42gb with 1 error this time after 4 hours.

Any suggestions on what could be wrong?

I'd say it's not the drive, but hardaware problem. Try a different PC/Laptop if you can. If not - see what you can do to make it more stable - remove overclock, reset BIOS to safe defaults and so on.

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I'd say it's not the drive, but hardaware problem. Try a different PC/Laptop if you can. If not - see what you can do to make it more stable - remove overclock, reset BIOS to safe defaults and so on.

I thought that at first as well, but if it were hardware related (other than the hard drive that is) I'm confused as to why the upgrade would fail near the same point every time. Wouldn't it be problematic from the start?

I'd say it's not the drive, but hardaware problem. Try a different PC/Laptop if you can. If not - see what you can do to make it more stable - remove overclock, reset BIOS to safe defaults and so on.

I want to thank both Richsadams & Comer for your help. I ran both quick & extended tests and the both passed. I than read Comer's reply & did as he suggested. I reset my bios to the fail safe defaults (It wasn't overclocked), I disconnected my DVDr/CDr drive & used that SATA cable for the 2tb drive, I ran the software from a USB drive, I also disconnected all other cables from my computer (USB hub & network cable). ran the software again & it worked no problems, took about 2:40 to copy, I expanded than super sized. Put it back in my Tivo, fired that mother up & Woo Hoo 317 HD hours.

I want to thank both Richsadams & Comer for your help. I ran both quick & extended tests and the both passed. I than read Comer's reply & did as he suggested. I reset my bios to the fail safe defaults (It wasn't overclocked), I disconnected my DVDr/CDr drive & used that SATA cable for the 2tb drive, I ran the software from a USB drive, I also disconnected all other cables from my computer (USB hub & network cable). ran the software again & it worked no problems, took about 2:40 to copy, I expanded than super sized. Put it back in my Tivo, fired that mother up & Woo Hoo 317 HD hours.

Thank again guys.
I will send you a donation Comer

Chris

Excellent and good to know that info. Comer was correct and I'm glad I wasn't. Enjoy your "new" TiVo!

Another success story with the WD20EARS (manufactured 10-30-2010) that was pulled from an external WD Elements external drive. All I did was: Hooked up tivo drive (via SATA), hook up new drive (via USB enclosure), set AAM to 128 (using HDDScan), popped in Comer's CD & followed directions. After a few hours, popped the new drive back in Tivo and confirmed 317 HD hours.

Welcome to the forum. You have several options. If it were me I would opt for one of these at this time:

WD10EVDS

WD20EVDS

Those are both A/V dedicated drives and do not need any AAM adjustments. If you buy them from Amazon or Newegg.com they s/b new enough that they won't need the Intellipark feature tweaked.

Probably the most popular drives being used here are these:

WD10EARS

WD20EARS
Both of those drives are quiet out of the box but most folks adjust the AAM to 128 (matching the A/V dedicated drives) with a program called hddscan ] to make them quieter.

You can find more information about adjusting the AAM and Intellipark settings (for WD drives manufactured prior to 09/15/10) on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (specifically Section IV, #32 and Section V, #14 respectively):

Hope that helps and happy upgrading!

Hi Rich,

thanks a million. I spent 2 hours last night trying to read through different thread and could not find an answer. I also sent several email to people on ebay selling these drives, but they won't tell me the model #. Thanks again.

thanks a million. I spent 2 hours last night trying to read through different thread and could not find an answer. I also sent several email to people on ebay selling these drives, but they won't tell me the model #. Thanks again.

I recently did an upgrade to my Tivo HD and used the WD20EURS - this is the newest model in the Western Digital AV-GP line and it's a touch more energy-efficient.

thanks a million. I spent 2 hours last night trying to read through different thread and could not find an answer. I also sent several email to people on ebay selling these drives, but they won't tell me the model #. Thanks again.

Stan,

I bought the WD20EVDS on Ebay last week. search for WD20EVDS & look in the list for the one priced at $99 or best offer with free priority shipping, the guy is in PA. I offered to buy it for $85 & he counter offered for $92 said that's the cheapest he could sell it for. I couldn't find that drive for less anywhere else. It arrived 5 days later with a manufacture date of 11/4/2010

Super quiet and except for the need to adjust the head parking, they are perfect...

Nice find. The drive may or may not require the Intellipark feature's timeout to be adjusted. WD drives manufactured after 09/15/10 no longer exhibit the soft reboot (or reboot hang) problem. So if the drives they're shipping were manufactured after that date the only thing they may need is to have the AAM adjusted to 128 for quieter operation (although they're very quiet out of the box).

I bought the WD20EVDS on Ebay last week. search for WD20EVDS & look in the list for the one priced at $99 or best offer with free priority shipping, the guy is in PA. I offered to buy it for $85 & he counter offered for $92 said that's the cheapest he could sell it for. I couldn't find that drive for less anywhere else. It arrived 5 days later with a manufacture date of 11/4/2010

Thanks, Comer! I did the upgrade yesterday without any major issues. It took 3 hours for the copy using SATA connections and an additional hour to remove and replace the drives and reboot. I used a WD20EARS drive and ran the Feature Tool and WDiddle3 tools.

I recorded my procedure and uploaded it to YouTube. I also wrote up a webpage with details and links at my DIYClinic site.

I Upgraded Premiere with 2TB Drive using Comer's method. It downloaded a service update (14.6) - I don't have high def menus...I have the same menus as a TiVo HD. Any ideas?

Thanks!

To get the HDUI
1) you may have to turn it on under settings and display
2) You must have an Internet connection to start the HDUI (phone will not work)
3) your output must be at least 720P to your HDTV
4) The TiVo must have activation (without activation no HDUI)
5) if the above does not get you the HDUI check the SI screen as it will tell you if the HDUI is available for your current setup or not.

I Upgraded Premiere with 2TB Drive using Comer's method. It downloaded a service update (14.6) - I don't have high def menus...I have the same menus as a TiVo HD. Any ideas?

Thanks!

I had the same, EXACT, thing happen when I upgraded two Premieres.

The original drives had never been booted, So, I wasn't sure whether or not it had anything to do with that (or the upgrade, in any context). I just went through the SD menus and found the setting to turn the HDUI on, and that did the trick, on both units.

I have had some other "weirdness" going on, such as netflix movies not wanting to play, unless I hit instant replay after the buffering period, as well as the "watch now from netflix" option randomly disappearing from places it is supposed to be. As for these problems, I have tried the , , play, play HDUI reboot procedure with no luck, rebooting the entire box with no luck, and have had to resort to using KS 52 to get everything back to "normal". I've had to do it twice now (on both units).

Why would I go straight to a KS 52, as opposed to the other KS options? It's the KS option with the least possibility of turning a TiVo into a brick. I had also done a KS 57, 58, & 52, on each unit after they had finished downloading all the available software updates. I now reserve KS 57 & 58 for last resorts (which I admit, is based on my personal experiences with both stock, and upgraded TiVo HDs).

KS 52 launches the same processes that happen when TiVo software updates are installed, after being downloaded (minus the download part). It also does some "spring cleaning" of the VAR partition, which doesn't cause you to lose anything (that needs to be there). As long as there is nothing wrong with the drive, and the last update that was downloaded isn't somehow corrupt, it's a very safe option to try.

Anybody who is reading this and going "huh, what?", just do a little searching around on KS 57 GSOD loop.

Again, I have no idea if KS 57/58 could "brick" a Premiere. I'd rather just not find out, unless I was out of options.

His posting expired on Sunday. I was able to score one for $88 using your method a few minutes before it ended - I guess he needed to move them. Thanks for the info tho, saved me a ton. It's usually like $125 at the stores.

Again, I have no idea if KS 57/58 could "brick" a Premiere. I'd rather just not find out, unless I was out of options.

There isn't any chance of TiVo's diagnostic and repair programs, AKA Kickstarts "bricking" a TiVo. The only risk is that there are enough issues with a drive that fsfix could push it over the edge...but that would have happened at some point anyway. More here:

There isn't any chance of TiVo's diagnostic and repair programs, AKA Kickstarts "bricking" a TiVo. The only risk is that there are enough issues with a drive that fsfix could push it over the edge...but that would have happened at some point anyway. More here:

I have 4 TiVo HDs that disagree with that. Two had it happen with factory drives, then repeated, after fully testing them and re-imaging them, then the same with replacement drives and fresh images x2. The other two never ran on the factory drives, but bricked on upgrade drives, which were swapped out with drives from another supplier, imaged, and bricked again x2.

When not using factory/stock drives, the drives in use are the WD20EADS drives. With those drives, I had to use the "Broflovski" image. I can't pin anything on that image, since I can repeat the results with factory drives and factory images.

On another note, I have always been aware of the post/sticky that you provided, as I share it with others (with an added warning about the possibility of turning a working TiVo, or "mostly working" TiVo, into a brick).

I'm going to have to move this into a PM, and choose my words carefully on how I know what I know. You and I get our information regarding these diagnostic KS commands from the same source. (hint, hint)

I have a binding NDA that prohibits me from freely discussing a lot of what I know.

Hopefully, via PM, we can come to some sort of agreement on whether or not you should update your KS post with a cautionary note at the end. Hopefully I can word things in a way that doesn't violate the terms of my NDA.

It will take me some time to draft the PM, in a way that shares the most information, without linking the information to things that aren't supposed to be shared. I may also just asked our shared source of information how to best share what I know with you.

What I'm saying about the KS 57/58 bricking TiVos, isn't something that "should" happen (unless under the circumstances you already described), but it can, and does, happen, outside of that criteria.

I'd like to spare people the loss of everything on their TiVo, if it can be avoided, by not making KS commands seem so completely benign and safe to play with. I understand that you'll need data, data points, etc., backing this up. I intend to provide that.

I and hundreds if not thousands have been employing the various Kickstarts diagnostic and/or repair programs on stock and upgraded TiVo's for about a decade now and AFAIK no one's TiVo ever stopped working from simply running the programs...granted that yours may be a first. However if there were problems we'd have known about it long ago.

If someone is resorting to running a KS there generally has been something wrong with their TiVo prior and in almost all cases it was a hard drive problem which was resolved by replacing the hard drive.

That said, the two newer, "unorthodox" 2TB upgrade methods (Borflovski and/or Comer's) may have something inherently different/wrong that won't allow the MFS programs to operate normally, can't say for sure.

The source for my KS commands post and what they do is from a long-time TiVo engineer that generously participates on the TCF from time-to-time. It was reviewed by him about 45 days ago and was updated with a couple of his suggestions. I suppose I could add a line to the KS post to the effect that the programs may be hazardous to 2TB upgrades until we're clear that they are or aren't. I agree that if they are a risk to the 2TB upgrades that fair warning would be appropriate.

Thanks for the reply ... I planned poorly though and am still pulling old shows off my current drive (750GB) using Tivo Desktop (there isn't any faster method, is there?), so it'll be a while before I can actually do my first swap.

My WD20EURS has a manufacture date of 10/13/2010, and was factory set to "quiet" mode (code 128 when read with hdparm) and was factory set to an idle timeout of 8 seconds. I already disabled the idle timeout though - what's the reasoning behind using a timeout of 5 minutes versus just disabling it? I also just went ahead and copied the old drive, expanded and supersized it from the start, so I guess I'll be testing that configuration first.

I just completed a second upgrade, again with a WD20EURS (mfg date of 11/06/2010), which was factory set to "quiet" mode (code 128) and factory set to a disabled idle timeout. I'm now pretty sure that the first one also came with the idle timeout disabled from the factory.

I just completed a second upgrade, again with a WD20EURS (mfg date of 11/06/2010), which was factory set to "quiet" mode (code 128) and factory set to a disabled idle timeout. I'm now pretty sure that the first one also came with the idle timeout disabled from the factory.

Good info. I didn't know the EURS series' default AAM was 128...or that the Intellipark timeout was disabled. Valuable! Thanks for that and enjoy!

EDIT: Now that I look at the specs it is indeed an A/V dedicated drive. At around $115 that's a very good option for a lot of folks.

Potentially silly question from a newbie (been rading, but havent' seen the answer):

Any differences between retail Non-XL and XL drives (aside from capacity)?

For example, could I upgrade an XL to 2TB and use the original 1TB XL drive in a non-XL? Could I use a 320GB non-XL drive as a starting base for upgrading an XL to 2TB?

-SUO

Yes the software is different and can't be interchanged, a XL can be upgraded to 2Tb using the original XL hard drive, you than could upgrade the non XL TP using the original 320Gb drive to the 1Tb drive you took from the XL but why do it that way, just upgrade the non XL with the 2Tb drive and you will still have two TiVos one with 317 hours and one with 157 hours + you only have one upgrade to do.